What are some things that the general populace think is dangerous, but isn't that bad (and vice versa)?

Pretty much any commercial cleaning and polishing product in your home has hazardous ingredients. ORMD designation on consumer goods is a license to skirt hazardous marking requirements otherwise required for commercial versions. BPA in plastics or plastics in general are chock full of Bisphenols, Polyphenols and a whole litany of monomers not at all good for you this includes virtually ever canned good in your cabinet. If anything plastic in your home is soft and flexible they are the worst offenders. If you hear reports it’s safe….it’s only safe to pass their guidelines just like your drinking water is pure and your air quality is OK!! I know, I work with these chemicals every day and I make my own “Green” cleaning products

Many people think certain cities (I.e. Inglewood, or Compton) are extremely dangerous places, but in reality the media makes them out to be much more dangerous than they really are.

I found an article one time on fallacies of human thought, you mind this interesting. http://listverse.com/2010/04/12/10-more-common-faults-in-human-thought/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheListUniverse+(The+List+Universe)

#9 I think pertains to this question.

Sex. Seriously, I was told so much in high school how it’s best to wait for marriage and how it’s just demeaning to have sex with someone if you’re not in love with someone.

Sex is sex. Sure, there are a few precautions you need to take, but sex isn’t going to kill you and isn’t bad for you. It’s pretty damn awesome.

Cigarettes. Japan and Andorra both have two of the highest life expectancies in the world, and in both countries, you can smoke almost anywhere and many people are smokers. It’s obviously not good for you, but in moderation, it’s not anywhere near as bad as it’s made out to be in north america. In human history only 4 people have lived to the age of 117 or more, 2 of them were lifelong smokers.

Thinking for yourself and questioning authority.

@syzygy2600: Virtual high five.

@KatawaGrey

Honestly, I wish I hadn’t bought into that whole celibacy thing. I honestly feel like I missed out. I’d never cheat on my hubby – no desire to, and I love him to death, but the question nags at me.

I don’t feel that one has to slap a helmet on their head every time they ride a bicycle.

@Blackberry Eat all your vegies and drink plenty of water if you wish for a long life, or similar.

My mother-in-law just died at the age of about 87 and I cannot recall seeing her drink water. It was always tea. I cannot recall her eating fruit at all, but cakes, cookies, and similar.

A good meal of meat and vegies she just picked at, but then got stuck into cakes, etc afterwards.

She may have been the exception to prove the rule, but it sure made me think!

Kids playing outside.

Seriously – doesn’t everyone over the age of 15 remember the rule “I don’t want to see you until the street lights come on”? I’ve lived in this neighborhood for three years, and just found out the other day my neighbor across the street has three kids. I’ve never seen them!

There’s a host of save-us-from-ourselves laws and prohibitions that deprive us of the right to take modest risks on our own responsibility. Like riding bikes without a helmet, for instance. I think they instill fearfulness and teach us to expect to be taken care of (and compensated by someone if anything goes wrong) instead of acting on our own behalf.

We con ourselves with movie images of bold, daring, swashbuckling heroes who we imagine represent us, yet we surround babies with nothing but soft stuff, put kneepads on our kids, take all the fun equipment off the school playground, and worry about being sued if someone slips on our sidewalk.

Speeding and LSD. (but certainly not at the same time)

Speeding is actually safer in many daily circumstances. It’s safer to speed around a pack of cars on the left, than it is to join them behind.

And LSD can help a person in one evening to a degree that usually takes 20 years of psychotherapy. The dosage is so small, in micrograms, that you could eat the same dosage of rat poison, and not get sick.

People think that if their car goes underwater they will surely drown which is simply not true. If you can stay conscious and stay calm, you have plenty of time to roll down your window before the car fully submerges, and if for some reason you find yourself submerged, the pressure is equalized and you can open your door and so forth.